


Coffee, Tea, or Frustration

by georgiamagnolia



Series: The Plot Bunnies of Barba and Benson [5]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 08:26:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26968966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/georgiamagnolia/pseuds/georgiamagnolia
Summary: What do Rafael's musical choices reveal to Olivia and will either of them ever admit that there is more to it than the random shuffle of a CD player.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Olivia Benson
Series: The Plot Bunnies of Barba and Benson [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945330
Comments: 15
Kudos: 34





	Coffee, Tea, or Frustration

When they got to Olivia’s apartment, Rafael agreed to start in the kitchen because that was the least personal area and seemed to make Olivia happy if he wasn’t cleaning in the bath or vacuuming in the bedroom. He saw her go down the hall twice with baskets of laundry and followed her the second time. She was standing next to the door shaking coins out of a jar into her palm.

“What’s up?”

She looked up from counting quarters out and said, “Laundry,” with the duh implied.

“You have to go to a coin-op?”

“It’s in the basement.”

“Nope, that is not on. Let’s just put it in the car and we’ll do it tonight at my place, it’s free. Not to mention, how likely is it that you will get,” he eyed the baskets, “four free washers and then dryers all at once? On a Saturday?”

Olivia got a mulish look on her face like she wanted to argue despite knowing he wasn’t wrong about the availability of laundry facilities on a weekend. Rafael rolled his eyes at her and picked up two of the baskets she had stacked together. “Let’s go, Detective.”

She glared, but replaced the quarters in their jar and checked that she had her keys, then hefted the other stack of laundry and they headed for the car.

They made quick work of the rest of the apartment, Olivia packed a bag with toys and books for Noah as well as a novel for herself, but they would have clothes clean in the laundry so skipped that. She raided her fridge for juice boxes for Noah and some fruit and crackers for his snacks, and they were ready to go with plenty of time to spare. They dropped Rafael’s dry cleaning off and made it back to his place in record time. 

Rafael opened a pair of accordion doors across from the guest bath that Olivia had thought was another closet and revealed his washer and dryer as well as a folded ironing board and plenty of laundry soap and dryer sheets.

“You can put your first load in and get it ready, but don’t start it yet, as soon as you have your bath run, I’ll punch the button.” Rafael said and turned to her to see surprise on her face. “What?” he asked.

“I thought you were kidding.”

“I never kid. Almost never.”

“Well, I didn’t bring any bubbles, so I’ll skip it.”

Rafael gave her a half grin and motioned for her to follow. He led her to his bathroom and showed her the cupboard under the sink where he had stashed two bottles of bubble bath, both partially used. There was also a bag of Epsom salts and a box of citrus scented bath salts. He opened another cupboard and took out a couple of towels and sat them on the counter by the sink. “No reason not to enjoy an hour or so of relaxation. And if you don’t, I will go wash your delicates first.” He left the bath before she could protest.

~~~ ~~~

Rafael sat on the couch; his book ignored in his lap. There was a naked woman in his bath. Better than that, or worse, there was a naked Olivia in his bath. His imagination and his libido were having a heyday with that information, torturing him without end. His memory decided to get with the party and gave him a sensory overload of waking in her arms, her head tucked into him, her breath soft on his throat, the scent of her hair and skin so close, her cotton covered breasts pressed to his chest, her sleepy smile when she opened her eyes, the way she stretched like a cat before getting up from the couch. He groaned softly and tossed the paperback to the other end of the couch, reaching for the remote to look for something on the tv that would distract him. 

~~~ ~~~ 

Olivia rolled up the smaller towel that Rafael had put on the sink and tucked it under her neck as she reclined in the tub, sighing as the hot water relaxed her tense muscles. She thought about picking up the book she’d brought but decided to close her eyes and enjoy the quiet and the relaxation instead. It turned out both bottles of bubble bath were some version of citrus scent so she had put a capful of each under the running tap at the center of the tub, filling the room with the scent of oranges and grapefruit and tangerines. The water relaxed her body but the citrus scent invigorated her mind and Olivia figured out what she would give Rafael next Christmas. She grinned to herself imagining him getting a box of oranges every month for a year. 

As she sunk lower in the water to let it cover her shoulders she realized that she was in the same tub that Rafael obviously enjoyed that bubble bath in and the sudden thought of him naked in this same tub brought again to mind seeing him in his office half dressed. Was that only yesterday? It seemed like more time had passed, lifetimes maybe. The image in her imagination had the same power as the actual event and Olivia tried hard to ignore the reaction. Of course he was an attractive man, she wasn’t blind after all. Getting to know him better over the years hadn’t diminished that, had only added to it. His obvious intelligence and his moments of kindness or compassion that he tried hard to hide from the larger world had added to his charm. And he was sarcastic, that was a turn on she wouldn’t admit to anyone. She knew she had a bit of a weakness for dating assholes and Rafael fit that bill, though thinking of some of her past lovers she was pretty sure that he would object to being lumped in with them. She thought about that for a moment, Rafael’s polite hostility toward Tucker the night before. It reminded her of someone she used to know, someone who was constantly suspicious of her dates. The difference was that Rafael didn’t try to control her, and he didn’t have a wife preventing him from acting on any unvoiced feeling he may be suppressing. That memory no longer had the power to hurt, so she set it aside. She was certain Rafael didn’t have any feelings for her, suppressed or otherwise, other than the friendship they both enjoyed and the partnership they had forged at work. But the image of him standing in his office last night had power, indeed it did. What the hell was it about his suspenders hanging down his thighs that got her so bothered? She sighed, harder than before and picked up her novel, determined to distract herself from memories of his chest under her cheek when she woke this morning and how good his arms felt holding her close. She stared at the page for a very long time, the words not registering at all.

~~~ ~~~ 

Olivia emerged from the bath somewhat more relaxed and found Rafael in the kitchen, elbow deep in something involving flour. There was music playing that she didn’t recognize but she heard him singing along softly.

“ _Pero de ti me enamoré  
Fue una luz  
Que iluminó todo mi ser…_” 

She translated it automatically in her head, _I fell in love with you. It was a light that illuminated my whole being…_ Before she could say something, Rafael realized she had joined him and smiled. 

“Fresh bread, to go with dinner later,” he said gesturing to the dough he was kneading on the counter. “It’s about ready for rising, and I changed your laundry out, hope that’s ok. I didn’t touch your delicates though, promise.” He made the dough into a ball and rolled it in a bowl he had standing by. He unfolded a tea towel over the bowl and set it aside, then started washing his hands and cleaning the counter. 

The music changed to Frank Sinatra singing The Best is Yet to Come and Olivia recognized that one easily. She wandered toward the CD player in the living room and sure enough another stack of CD cases were stacked on top. There was another artist she had never heard of and two double CD collections, one of Sinatra and another of Beny Moré who she realized would be the artist singing the song before. The player was set to shuffle again and so she supposed she’d get to hear the third artist eventually.

She wondered if she sat and quietly read her book he might forget she was here and start to sing again, he had sounded so lovely and she would like to hear more but knew if she said anything he’d get weird about it and she didn’t want that. That led her to wonder who he might have been singing about, and if he remembered that she spoke more than one language. Or maybe, and more probably, he was just singing along and not about anyone in particular. 

“What time do we need to go get Noah?”

Olivia turned to see Rafael had joined her in the living room, apron gone and hands clean, still in the jeans and tee-shirt he’d put on to go out this morning. She pulled her phone from her pocket and checked it, soon was the answer.

“About half and hour or so,” she told him.

“Time for a cup of coffee,” he said as he headed back toward the kitchen, “or tea if you’d rather?” he asked looking back over his shoulder.

“Tea would be great if you have some.” She followed him into the kitchen area again.

Rafael opened the cupboard where he kept his coffee and revealed a half a dozen flavours of tea that Olivia could see, but they were at least double stacked so there had to be more. He plugged in an electric kettle after filling it with water and poured himself coffee, fixing it as she looked over the tea selection. “The women in my family like tea, and have wide and varied tastes, so there is something for every mood in there.”

Olivia watched him through her lashes and saw a sad smile on his lips, she reached up and took the first box of tea she found and sat it on the counter, closing the door of the cupboard. He gave her a happier smile when he saw her choice. 

“That was one of my abuelita’s favourites.”

“Oh, sorry,” Olivia opened the cupboard to choose another and Rafael put a hand on hers. 

“No, Olivia, it makes me happy to share her with you, she was a powerful force for good in my life and I like to think that you would have been friends. Please don’t change your choice if you think I’d be sad to share, I’m not.” The sincerity in his eyes was irresistible so she smiled at him, helpless to say no in that moment.

The kettle hissed and Rafael turned and pulled the plug, ready to fill her cup with water.

“That was fast.”

“The women in my family are also not terribly patient. This was the fastest kettle I could find. I still have to wait fifteen minutes for my coffee, but we have tea in five.”

Olivia had to laugh, imagining Rafael waiting while his mother and grandmother sat with their tea, smug and satisfied.

They sat at the kitchen island on stools, Olivia stirring honey into her tea. 

“So you’re the most successful prosecutor in town, you cook, and you make your own bread. Do you secretly want to be a restaurateur?” Olivia smiled over her cup as she tested to see if the tea was cooled enough to drink, blowing on it when it wasn’t.

Rafael was mesmerized by the soft pucker of her lips, took a drink of his own coffee to distract himself, ignoring the protest of his singed tonsils. “Nope, that’s a headache I would not sign up for, never. I just like to cook, it relaxes me. And my abuelita wanted to make sure I never starved, we spent a lot of time in her kitchen.” Rafael smiled at the memories. “She told me that bread is the building block to society, it’s nurturing and universal, every society and culture has bread and there is always something to share if you have bread. She taught me to make as many breads as she could, yeast bread and quick bread and soda bread. She believed in the power of food to bring people together, to celebrate and mourn and create joy where it was needed or share the joy that was there.” Rafael shrugged, “I guess it’s a way I keep her close as well, celebrating her memory the happiest way I know how.”

“I think I would have liked her very much,” Olivia smiled and Rafael returned it. 

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

“Stay in the car.”

Rafael rolled his eyes. “Yes, Lieutenant.”

“I mean it, Rafael.”

“I do understand. I stayed in the car just fine at the dry cleaners.”

“I could see you through the window.”

Rafael made of show of snapping his seatbelt strap, “not going anywhere.”

Olivia got out of the car, then leaned back in, “If you see anything…” she shut up when Rafael pulled his phone out of his shirt pocket and wave it at her.

“Go get Noah, we can get out of here faster if you go now.”

Olivia shut the car door a little harder than she had to, as the last word. She did not look back to see the smirk that may or may not have been on Rafael’s mouth.

Several minutes passed and Rafael made sure to keep a weather eye out, but saw nothing out of the ordinary, just New Yorkers doing what came naturally on a bright, late Spring afternoon. There were all kinds of people out and about enjoying the warming temperatures, not many of them rushing anywhere on a Saturday. He smiled watching a young couple oblivious to the others in the park, holding hands and having eyes only for one another. Then he saw Noah nearly dragging Olivia in his wake, pulling her as hard as he could toward the car as fast as he could make her go. Both of them were smiling, Noah laughing when he spotted the car and Rafael waiting.

Noah jumped up in the back seat, wrapping his arms around Rafael’s neck, “Mom said you had to stay in the car, were you bad? She says we’re coming to your house for dinner and sleepovers. She said you cooked too much dinner and that we’re sharing so you don’t go to waste. Can we watch cartoons at your house? Do you have cartoons on your tv?” His questions were endless and finally Olivia got him to let go of Rafael and sit in his seat so she could buckle him in.

Rafael turned as much as he could while buckled in himself and smiled at the active and very excited Noah. “I was certainly not bad, and yes I hope you don’t mind another night away from home, and I do have cartoons, I think they are universal.”

“That’s good. Mom says home is people you love not the place you live, so your home is home because I love you.”

“Love you too, Noah.”

Olivia remained silent as she merged the car into traffic, heading back toward Rafael’s neighborhood, watching the mirrors for anyone following but thankfully the way was clear. Noah and Rafael carried the conversation and she needed to do little more than nod occasionally as both the men in the car were capable of talking Legos and cartoons without her input.

Noah was fascinated by the parking garage under Rafael’s apartment building and the swipe card that let them in the garage and elevator. His chatter continued right up to the door of the apartment. Seeing Rafael’s apartment for the first time seemed to momentarily overwhelm the boy until he saw the wall of bookshelves and stared in awe at them.

“Did you read ALL of these books Uncle Rafa?”

“Yes, I did, some more than once or twice.” Rafael took off his jacket and hung it by the door. He walked into the living room and knelt down to take Noah’s jacket off him, “I still reread some of them. Give me your jacket and I will show you a shelf you might like.” He hung Noah’s jacket and returned, taking Noah’s hand and leading him to a bottom shelf near the kitchen area. He sat tailor fashion on the floor and Noah copied him. The lower shelf was full of Dr. Seuss books and classics that Rafael had read as a child, like The Three Musketeers and Robin Hood, as well as collections of E. B. White and Wilson Rawls and A. A. Milne. “Some of these are maybe a little much for you to read yourself but these,” Rafael took out several of the Seuss books, “are just right for you to read, I bet. And if you like, we could read one of these others later. We won’t finish it, but you could borrow it and maybe your mom would read you more, if you’re good.”

“I’d like all of that, Uncle Rafa. Can we mom?” Noah looked over his shoulder and up at his mom who was leaning on the kitchen island, watching. She smiled.

“If you promise to take care of the book like the library books and you promise to use the bookmark the librarian gave you, you may borrow one book from Uncle Rafa.”

“Thank you,” Noah and Rafael said together, then laughed.

“Jinx, you owe me a coke!” Noah said and laughed when Rafael elbowed him gently.

Olivia grinned and turned to check the laundry, listening to her son and her best friend laughing together in the living room. She’d never heard anything so good in her life.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, the bunnies are slow, so sorry. I should just make a playlist and post it as I have discovered some good tunes writing this. (ok, I admit I already own a LOT of Sinatra)


End file.
